Neutral Cards (4)

Latest Changes - May 21, 2020

I just hit legend with this off-meta Demon Hunter deck, so I thought I would share.The aim of the deck is to play some sticky minions in the early game to help get some good value out of a Wrathscale Naga, and then finish the opponent off with some heavy hitters.

The inclusion of Murmy and Temple Berserker seems strange, but they fit a multiple purpose. First of all, their stickiness makes them incredibly effective against more controlling decks. A priest deck will have to work a lot harder to keep your board clear than if you were playing a standard Demon Hunter Tempo deck, for example. They also are great to have on the board when a Demon Hunter plays a Priestess of Fury, as they will remain to attack her next turn. The main reason for their inclusion, however, is Wrathscale Naga. I’ve spent a lot of time experimenting with this card, and have found that these reborn minions (combined with Coordinated Strike) are the best way to get consistent value out of it.

Your other early game cards are Battlefiend, Satyr Overseer, and Umberwing. The Battlefiend and Overseer are mainly there to apply early pressure to force your opponent to make plays they would rather not (although Overseer has the added benefit of adding more bodies to the table). Umberwing is good enough to be included on its own merits, but is particularly useful here, as it adds more bodies to sacrifice to Wrathscale Naga.

My early experiments with Wrathscale Naga mainly involved trying to get one explosive turn, but I’ve come to realize that even just triggering its ability twice can be enough to give you a big swing (although I would generally aim to get at least three). Correctly choosing which enemy minions to attack into when trying to trigger it is very important. Unless you have a very specific target that needs to die, you should prioritize 1-health minions first to reduce the number of wasted hits from Wrathscale. After that, you should avoid attacking into 3-health minions, and to a lesser extent 4-health minions, as Wrathscale hits on these minions provide the most value. Also, don’t be concerned if it triggers mainly to your opponent’s face, as that will put you a lot closer to finishing them off with your heavy hitters.

The deck has a collection of support spells that are fairly interchangeable, but there is an intentional focus on card draw, as digging for your finishers is important. You won’t need all of them, but you will lose if you get none of them. The support cards are all played in other Demon Hunter decks, and they don’t need any additional explanation here.

The finishers are all effective in their own right but can provide particularly large swings when combined. Warglaives of Azzinoth doubles as a board clear in a pinch, but is particularly great for removing taunt minions and still hitting face. Metamorphosis clears out any large blockers, but always consider going face with it first. The surprise MVP here, though, is Inner Demon. On its own, it provides a huge swing, but if you have Warglaives equipped, you can attack through any large taunt minions, and if you already have Metamorphosis in play, you can use it to swing for up to 14 in a single turn (or even more with equipped weapons, Twin Slice, and/or cost reductions from Skull of Gul'dan). The last card to mention here is Altruis the Outcast. This deck has a pretty low curve, so it is easy to get a lot of value off of him. As with Tempo Demon Hunter, he is best played after Skull, thanks to the cost reductions it provides.

With regards to matchups, there are two main ways this deck plays: Against aggro you generally want to avoid trading your minions, except to take out high-value minions, or with Coordinated Strike. The more bodies on the board when you drop Wrathscale Naga, the better. Plus, if your opponent chooses to trade minions, that will slow them down enough for you to get to your higher value cards. Against control, the idea is to keep a few (generally around three or four) minions on the board at any time. Don’t over commit, and refill the board any time a board-wipe is played. Keep the pressure on, and keep your Wrathscale Naga for when they start dropping large minions. Play Metamorphosis and Warglaives of Azzinoth as early as possible, and prioritize hitting face. Try to avoid playing Inner Demon unless it will win you the game that turn.

Maiev Shadowsong was in the original version of this deck that I posted, and it's definitely on top of the list of cards to consider subbing in depending on the meta. If Big Druid had more of a presence in the current meta, I would definitely put it back in, for example (removing a Winged Guardian for two turns is a big deal).

Nethrandamus is also good, but I too often found it to be a bit too slow to be truly effective. You will most likely play it against Warlock and Priest, and they have many tools at their disposal to deal with your newly created minions before you get any use out of them. I would often see the opponent with less than 10 health, and play Nethrandamus in the hope of finishing them off next turn, and then they would just play something like Plague of Death. That's why I moved to running cards that deal burst damage for my finishers. Inner Demon and Metamorphosis don't care about board wipes.

If you do want to run Nethrandamus and want to up the fun level (at the expense of reliability), may I recommend that you increase the amount of card draw, and also include Chef Nomi. I had many a fun game where I would play Nethrandamus, see my board get wiped, and then refill my board with 6/6s the next turn!

You generally want to be keeping your 1 cost minions, Umberwing, Twin Slice, and Temple Berserker for most matchups (although throw Twin Slice if you have none of the others). You can also keep Eye Beam if it is in the left-most position in your hand (or can easily get there in the first couple of turns).

If playing against Priest or Warlock, try and get more of the reborn minions (even throwing Twin Slice and Battlefiend). Also for these matchups, consider keeping Spectral Sight or Skull of Gul'dan if they can easily get to the left-most position of your hand by the time you will play them (if you are throwing any cards to their left, throw them as you may get an Inner Demon preventing you from hitting their outcast).

At Diamond 5 I won my first three games as the algorithm pitted me against other off-meta decks that i have not seen in a LONG time (Taunt Warrior (?), Cheap-Spell Mage, Resurrection Priest, Big Druid). However, after those wins, my MMR was readjusted, and I'm back to facing Highlander Mage, Aggro Demon Hunter, and Highlander Hunter, and this deck cannot maintain a 50+ win rate against them or other meta decks. Nice effort, though.

I'm not sure why you have received negative feedback for this comment, as you are simply expressing your experience.

I would point out, though, that if you are at Diamond 5 (and presumably have 0 bonus stars), you will not be matched based on MMR. The developers have stated that any time you are on the ladder with 0 bonus stars, you will be matched based on your level rather than your MMR.

I'm in no way claiming this deck is better than the top meta decks (I wouldn't be so arrogant as to think that my small data set is enough to determine a deck's effectiveness). However, it's a fun deck that is good enough that I (and seemingly some other people based on their comments) have been able to to use it to climb the ladder and hit Legend.

i tried the deck, but it did not give me results, i do not know if it is a meme deck, or a deck to pass it well in casual, but in ladder it does not work, they destroy you, maybe the deck it is not for everyone, thanks for raising the deck, it is something different.

It's not the best name anymore, I admit, but older versions of this deck focused a lot more on killing your own minions to fuel Wrathscale Naga, Feast of Souls and Nethrandamus. Ultimately I found that Feast of Souls wasn't reliable enough (when you really need it to draw cards you can't even play it), and Nethrandamus was not a good finisher, because your opponent has a turn to respond to it. Much better to just finish them off with Inner Demon and/or Metamorphosis

Love the concept it just suffers without minions to target and you can't keep a valuable 1-health burst generator on the board for more than a turn... unless you buff it, hide it and protect it. I have a build playing around with the 3 Augemerchants and their interaction with Bonechewer Brawler, Potion Vendor, Flesheating Ghoul, Beaming Sidekick with Magic Carpet, as a secret weapon to hold the board early game. I think this goes very nicely with Wrathscale Naga but instead of waiting for at least turn 6 to play it; the deck plays early game like a classic DH aggro. Drawing and Dropping 1 drops everywhere. With Beaming Sidekick, for example, Wrathscale Naga is now a 3/3 surrounded by 1/1s with rush. or reborn. All of warrior's 1 damage AOE cards become suicide. DH can't do much to buff but with Capret on the board and a hand full of 1 drops that offer health or rush or divine shield becoming 3/1 rush minions themselves is fun. There could even be a place for Crazed Alchemist to keep Naga on the board for more than just 1 turn. Though I've found I don't need him there for more than two to be a huge nuisance. Warriors and Rogues will immediately waste their target removals to get the carpets and Naga off the board asap. Giving you time to hit them in the face and draw your finishers. I'm contemplating including a Toxfin for single target removal with Murmy. Lastly, I'm also using a Cult Master and Blade Dance which is much easier to pull off a huge draw than juggling so many outcast cards to find your late game sustainability. I don't have a decklist for this yet cause its a lot of ideas together and I'm trying to match the classic agg DH curve to avoid early burn out and giving away card advantage. I think there's possibility here but I feel like someone with better skills can find a better build than me out of all of it. Thoughts?

As I said, I've tried many things with Wrathscale Naga, and Beaming Sidekick is one I've used in a lot of builds, but ultimately I've given up on trying to keep Naga around for long.

Magic Carpet is definitely interesting, but it won't be useful in this specific deck (but I may investigate the combo at some point).

And when I say I tried a lot of decks, I really mean it. One deck I built revolved around drawing cards very fast with the intent of drawing the entire deck and then dropping Wrathscale Naga, Beaming Sidekick (targetting Wrathscale), 2 x Murmy, 2 x any other 1 drop, and then playing Immolation Aura, and then playing Chef Nomi the following turn if they were still alive!

Wrathscale Naga is not the win condition in this deck; it is merely there to generate a short burst of value, to either clear the opponent's board or leaving them within burst range (or both). I've won many games without even playing it. The secret is to stop expecting some epic turn, and just think of it as a card that provides a respectable amount of damage for 3 mana, and the 3/1 body is just a bonus.

I wanted to make Naga work as well, but I found unless I play vs Rogue or Warr that I didnt have minions to sacrfice my minions into, and usually the first 3dmg hit killed it. So I see problems against slower decks like Priest

I've actually found Priest to be a good matchup for this deck. There will be a large part of the game where things look bad, as they keep wiping your board and healing themselves back to full, but if you keep at it (and don't over-commit to the board) they eventually run out of answers and you can start chipping away at their health on a more permanent basis. When they drop big minions, that is when you play your Naga(s), and you can get a lot of value from them. You will also generally be able to set up your burst to use it all in one turn (Warglaives equipped, Metamorphosis activated, and Inner Demon in hand) to finish them off.

Rogue is another good matchup for this deck, but Warrior is pretty tough. The real problem is if they get a big hit off of their Skipper/Armorsmith combo (which is very reliable thanks to Ancharrr and Cache), it can be very hard to win a race. The skipper also tends to nullify your minions' stickiness, which isn't game-losing in itself, but in combination with the armor gain, it's pretty oppressive. I've been tempted to replace Maiev with Platebreaker (which would also be useful against Mage thanks to Ice Barrier), but I suspect it won't help enough to warrant its inclusion.

Another difficult matchup would be spell druid. You lack threats that they will feel they really need to remove straight away. This means they can hold onto their removal to make their big turns even bigger. For this reason, if you are encountering a lot of Spell Druid, I would probably recommend swapping the Runners for Battlefiend (which may make sense after the nerf, anyway. I plan on testing this soon), and possibly finding room for a copy or two of Overseer (once again, Maiev would be my first choice to replace. She's useful, but not essential).